When You’re Given Lemons…

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11/22/08 

“Make Lemonade”, so the saying goes.  Today I discovered that when you give some kids a cow pasture, they make a football (soccer) field.  Let me explain…

 

Today is day two in Africa and we traveled about 3 hours north west of Nairobi to the Tumaini Children’s Home.  All of the 127 children are orphans, many of who have been orphaned by the AIDS virus.  Now they are given a chance to learn, grow to be healthy, interact with others in a safe environment, where as many outside of this home may have end up living on the streets huffing paint or glue for a cheap high.

 

Tumaini was started by Bishop David Thagana, and his wife, in 1988.  Bishop David had encountered a street kid who listened to him preaching one afternoon.  That kid, Boniface, only 12 at the time, was high from huffing, but was drawn to Bishop David and asked him to take him home to live with his family.  Bishop David, as graciously as he could, refused to do so.  But every time Bishop David would try and leave, the child begged him to take him home.

Eventually the Bishop couldn’t resist any longer and he took him in.  That night, Bishop David’s wife cooked a meal, which is probably the first good meal Boniface had in a long time.  Boniface took the food and served it on the floor of the little shack house and proceeded to eat from the floor.  When questioned, Boniface said that he had never once eaten a meal from an actual plate and didn’t feel he was worthy enough to eat from one.  For almost 6 months, Boniface refused to sleep on a bed, but rather the floor, for the same reason.

 

Shortly after, another child, and then another one… and now there are 127 children living and schooling at the orphanage.

 

It really is much harder being in a place like this now that I have a son.  When I was here last year, I was deeply moved in many ways.  But none of them compare to the thoughts going through my head this afternoon.  If Owen were to be orphaned for some reason, I have the surest confidence that he would be immediately taken in by either friends or family.  He would be loved on by people we know who would give him the best life possible.  But the children we played with today – they were literally taken in off of the street; they had no other family member to take them in.  One child in particular, Faith, was 3 years old when she was brought in.  I am not about to blog about the horrific life she had to endure in the first three years of her life.

 

Jon Gallagher and I had the chance to play some football with about 20 or so students from the orphanage.  We had to dodge land mines created by the half a dozen cows in the pasture.  One neighboring shepherd was literally trying to catch his goat during the middle of our game.

 

In a place like this, I quickly became aware of my role.  I was here today (and will be here for the next few days) to hug as many kids as I can.  Because when there is so much that from my paradigm I think they need, the one thing they need more than anything is to be loved.  Loved like Owen is loved.

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Filed under Africa 2008